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Powered by the Telegram API, iMe is a native-messaging smart platform coming to Neo N3 via the Early Adoption Program. The team endeavors to build a future where value and data can be exchanged without relying on intermediaries. The ecosystem is home to a messaging application with built-in cryptocurrency wallet, artificial intelligence functionality, and decentralized finance tooling, among other enhancements to the base functionality provided by Telegram.
The Early Adoption Program is Neo Global Development’s US $10 million initiative to encourage development and collaboration on Neo N3, with decentralized finance (DeFi) as a key priority. The iMe team will receive grant funds, incubation opportunities, and technical support intended to enable its growth within the Neo ecosystem.
Background
Telegram allows third-party developers to tap into its open-source codebase and API in order to expand on existing capabilities of the messenger and discover new opportunities. Taking advantage of this, the iMe team seeks to improve on the current features of the service for greater user-friendliness, and add functionality not available in the Telegram app.
In late 2019, the iMe application launched on the Google Play and Apple app stores, allowing Telegram to be used in a fresh new way. Since then, the iMe Smart Platform has achieved a sizable user base. According to the project, by June of 2021 the application had reached 2,300,000 users, up from 1,560,000 users the month prior. There were approximately 734,000 monthly active users. Today, the app has been downloaded over 4.5 million times, with 800,000 activated wallets and nearly 1 million monthly active users.
However, the iMe team has much higher ambitions. Telegram has an existing user base of over half a billion people, which is what the iMe team sees as its total prospective audience. Furthermore, as Telegram reaches more users, iMe hopes to follow suit.
The platform is aimed at providing easy access to cryptocurrency tools through its integrated DeFi functionalities, for experienced crypto enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
The iMe Ecosystem
The ecosystem comprises a messenger tool, cryptocurrency wallet, DeFi functions, and LIME, a native token with various utilities within the platform. These components are all available within the iMe app. The app is currently supported on both Android and iOS, with a desktop version planned for the future.
iMe Messenger
The iMe messenger is fully synchronized with Telegram, allowing all contacts, chats, groups, channels, and bots to be displayed the same way in both applications. As with the Telegram app, users can send messages, photos, videos, and files of any type inside of iMe. Capability also exists for creating groups or channels for broadcasting to an unlimited audience, saving contacts to a phone, and searching for users by name. As such, iMe provides all the functionality of SMS and email to manage messaging needs. End-to-end encrypted voice and video calls are also supported.
In addition to these base functionalities, the iMe messenger includes features not available through Telegram. The app contains a built-in translator service through Google’s cloud translation API, allowing easy chat conversion from one language to another. iMe also allows for voice-to-text transcription of voice messages, extraction of text from photos, improved cloud storage, and advanced folder settings. These features are all designed to make communicating easier and handier on iMe.
All privacy and security responsibilities lie solely with Telegram. iMe doesn’t have access to any users’ data, nor does it store or transmit it anywhere. User authorization and data transmission and storage all occur within the Telegram servers.
NFT Neurobots
The iMe messenger also allows for neurobots. A neurobot is a user dataset which has been trained by an algorithm on a neural network. In simpler terms, these are personal chat assistants trained by AI, which can provide users with quick and relevant answers to questions. These chatbots have different styles and personalities based on the ways in which they are trained.
Each neurobot is minted as a unique NFT token, providing the bot’s creator with irrefutable ownership rights. A user can create and train a new bot for their own personal use, or to be sold on the iMe marketplace for another user to purchase and benefit from.
Multiple neurobots can be enabled at once, each trained for a different purpose. When a new message is received in a chat, all active neurobots will see the message and begin to analyze it. Each bot will work to determine if the message is something it has been trained to respond to, and react accordingly.
If the incoming message is as simple as ‘hello’, many neurobots may be trained and qualified to reply. For more complex and specific incoming messages, such as ‘tell me about the structure of rocket engines’, there may be zero neurobots trained to reply.
iMe Neurobot store and summary page of one free Neurobot
Currently, all neurobots in the marketplace have been developed by the iMe team. Future plans will allow for any user to be able to create a neurobot as their personality, helpdesk assistant, or just to sell in the marketplace.
Cryptocurrency Wallet
The iMe application comes with a non-custodial wallet, only accessible to the user. This wallet is intended to provide secure, simple transfers of cryptocurrencies within chats. Transactions can also be sent directly to a user’s Telegram handle, or via the more conventional methods of pasting a public address or QR code.
The iMe wallet supports a number of cryptocurrency assets on multiple networks. Currently, the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain networks are both supported. Work is in progress on more integrations, including Neo, which is estimated by the team to arrive in the first quarter of 2022.
There are already over 480,000 activated wallets on iMe, enabling those users to transfer cryptocurrencies with the click of a few buttons.
The iMe wallet tab
DeFi Functionality
As stated by the iMe development team, one of the target objectives of the project is to popularize decentralized finance among people using messengers. DeFi makes certain financial activities more rewarding by cutting out the role of the central authority, replacing it with code and smart contracts, and passing the savings onto the user.
iMe claims to have the first messaging ecosystem with integrated DeFi tools, hoping to resolve some of the skepticism many still have in regards to trustless finance. The platform is aimed at helping promote financial inclusion and getting new users exposed to decentralized finance.
To that end, iMe is integrated with several DeFi providers, such as Uniswap and Pancakeswap. More integrations are on the way, including 1inch. Users can swap, transfer, stake, and farm cryptocurrencies via these providers. Additionally, users can purchase cryptocurrencies with a credit card via Simplex inside of the app.
The iMe exchange gateway
LIME Token
Purchasable from within the integrated exchanges, LIME is the utility token of the iMe platform. These tokens will be necessary for many transactions inside the ecosystem, and are central to the platform’s reward system, intended to promote engagement and incentivize users. Additionally, these tokens will give holders the right to vote and participate in the governance of the platform via the implementation of a DAO.
In the future, LIME token holders will receive access to additional features inside the crypto wallet and iMe app. Details regarding the plans for these features can be found here. The team intends for LIME to play an integral role in the evolution of iMe as it expands into a full-fledged DeFi ecosystem.
Tokenomics of the LIME utility token (Source)
iMe on Neo N3
The iMe team mentioned being drawn to Neo, seeking engagement and interaction with the global community. “The Neo community is vibrant and united. We see a great example of a healthy, mutually synergistic relationship between a community and project here,” says Alex Borutskiy, co-founder and chief business development officer at iMe. Borutskiy also stated:
“As we’ve watched the steady rise of Neo, the technology, the development, the constant updates, the clearly defined roadmap, and the commitment to the community to bring the best technology solutions to this market have made Neo stand out. We love projects that seek to push their boundaries to create a really efficient service, solution, platform, or tool. We believe that there is synergy in thought and vision between iMe and Neo.”
The iMe team intends to involve the community in future farming and staking campaigns, as well as contests and other activities as part of the partnership. From Neo’s end, John Wang, head of Neo Eco-Growth, is anticipating a well-aligned partnership with iMe moving forward. Wang mentions:
“iMe brings a significant set of advantages in terms of practical applications for the Neo ecosystem. The iMe Smart Platform is an amazing project with a wealth of features that will continue to expand over time, including innovative applications of various popular concepts in cryptocurrencies — such as DeFi, NFTs, and DAO. We look to the iMe platform to play a central role in the Neo N3 ecosystem going forward.”